Golf Roundup : Jones’ Drive on Last Hole Gives Love First Win

Davis Love III, sitting in the scorer’s tent, won the Heritage golf tournament at Hilton Head Island, S.C., Sunday when leader Steve Jones drove out of bounds and scored a double-bogey six on the 72nd hole.

Jones, holding a one-stroke lead, needed only a par on the final hole to claim his first PGA Tour victory, but his tee shot went sailing into the gallery.

“I knew it was gone the minute I hit it,” Jones said.

Love, with a final-round 67, won the first tournament of his career with a 13-under-par total of 271 on the Harbour Town Golf Links.

The victory was worth $117,000 from the total purse of $650,000 and increased the 23-year-old Love’s earnings in his second pro season to $148,890.

Jones, an alternate who reached the tournament field only after Tony Sills withdrew, shot a one-over 72 to finish second at 272. He led Love by four shots with four holes to play.

“Just one bad shot at the wrong moment,” said Jones, who had not finished higher than sixth during his four-year pro career. “It’s a 70-yard fairway and I miss it. I was out of bounds by 10 yards.”

Love did not see the shot. “I heard some people in the condos yelling, ‘It’s out of bounds,’ ” Love said. “But I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to get too excited in case there was a playoff.”

Mark Wiebe, who had a final round of 67, and Gene Sauers, trailed by a big, noisy gallery of family, friends and neighbors from nearby Savannah, Ga., tied for third at 273.

Sauers, tied for the lead with Jones at 13-under at the start of the day, slipped to a 73 after having three bogeys on the back nine.

Love, of St. Simons Island, Ga., one of the longest hitters in golf, began the fourth round at nine-under, and he birdied the fifth and seventh holes to move into contention.

Masters runner-up Greg Norman of Australia shot a final-round 66 to finish at 277.

Severiano Ballesteros bounced back from his Masters playoff loss a week earlier to win a one-hole playoff with Welshman Ian Woosnam in the $250,000 Cannes Open at Cannes, France.

The 30-year-old Spaniard birdied the last hole to send the tight two-day battle into a playoff. He later called the competition “the two finest days of golf I can remember in Europe.”

The 37th title of Ballesteros’ European career and the first of the year was worth $40,000. He was the runner-up at this tournament last year.

Both men finished at 13-under-par 275. Ballesteros had a final-round 68 and Woosnam a 70.

Woosnam, who won $28,000, hooked into a bad lie in thick rough just a few feet off line at the first playoff hole, then found water as Ballesteros hit his approach to the heart of the green.

It was the 13th playoff of the Spaniard’s career. He has lost eight of them.

South African Mark McNulty carded a fourth-round 71 to finish in third place at 283. Eight shots behind the co-leaders, McNulty won $15,660.

U.S. Open title-holder Ray Floyd could not sustain a late bid and finished at 276 after a 70.

Gene Littler carded six birdies on the way to a three-under-par 69 to win the $300,000 Seniors Grand Slam Championship by two strokes on the 6,660-yard, par-72 Oak Hills Country Club course near the New Tokyo International Airport at Narita.

Littler, 57, finished the 54-hole tournament at 12-under 204 to earn the top prize of $60,000. Two strokes back at 206 was Miller Barber. Lee Elder was third with a 208.

Harold Henning, the leader heading into the final round, shot a 73 to finish 13th with a 213. Henning was suffering from hip pains.

Arnold Palmer finished at 217 to tie for 22nd with Kesahiko Uchida of Japan and Tommy Aaron.